Conference Room Communiqué
by Sandpiper
Summary: Anyone wonder was what going on at the debrief to make Syd and Vaughn so hot and bothered?
1. Note Passing

Particles of light poured out of the round florescent bulb in the ceiling creating a humorous looking white blob on the head of Director Kendall. Sydney knew she should have been concentrating on what her dad was saying up at the front of the table, but her eyes kept wondering back to the reflection on Kendall's bald head. At first glance it looked like a blob, but upon taking a closer look she realized that it was a little bit too neatly rounded to be a blob. More like an oval, or, as her high school algebra teacher would have called it, an ellipse. Sydney glanced down at the table for a minute, wondering if she could locate the foci in the ellipse on Kendall's head, then decided to try and find out.  
Just as she was mentally measuring the distance across the largest part of the head ellipse, her father's voice calling her name snapped her attention back to the debriefing she was in. The first thing she noticed when back in reality was that her father and everyone else around the conference room table was looking at her expectantly. She swore mentally, realizing that she had obviously missed something.  
"I'm sorry what was that?" She asked calmly.  
"I asked if there was anything else you wanted to add to your report about the retrieval of the Di Regno heart in Cartagena," Jack said sending her a look that was probably unnoticeable to everyone else, but told her clearly that he knew she hadn't been paying attention.  
"No," she answered, ignoring the look, "It covered everything that I know."  
"Thank you," Jack said and continued with whatever it was he had been talking about. Sydney sat back in her chair and sighed lightly.   
She felt Vaughn looking at her and could just picture the amused smirk on his face. She sighed again and searched the wall for something interesting. He shifted in his chair so that he was closer to her and wrote something on the large notepad sitting between them among the numerous pictures and files strewn around the table top. Once he moved his hand away, she glanced at it out of the corner of her eye.

**'Sydney Bristow zoning out during debriefs? Tisk, tisk'**

Sydney raised an eyebrow and glanced toward him, he was looking strait at the front of the room as if he was oblivious to the fact that she was even in the room. She looked back at the notepad and picked up her pen to scribble a response on the corner closest to her.

**'So you're saying I should pass notes during debriefs instead? Seriously, are in third grade?'**

She watched as he looked down at the notepad and then casually wrote down a response.

**'Bite me'**

Her eyebrows went up again and she thought that he must be very bored. She smiled inwardly, well if he was in the mood to be playful then two could play at that game.

**'In your dreams'**

She wrote without really thinking over what she was actually saying. By the time she realized he had already looked down at the message. She looked strait ahead as he wrote down a response. Once he moved his hand away and looked back up at her father, she slowly slid her eyes over to his corner of the notepad.  
Two small words silently opened a can of worms on Sydney Bristow's end of the conference table.

**'Every night'**

She sat just looking at the words for a couple minutes. She realized that she had been the one who started it, but that was certainly a loaded response. Was he just playing along or had the conservative Michael Vaughn unwittingly to confessed to liking a little pain? She immediately thought of a few ways she'd like to find out just how serious he'd been.   
Suddenly, what started out as juvenile note passing turned into a game of chicken. Who would back down first?

**'Oh really?  
I might have to take you up on that then'**

It was Vaughn's turn to be shocked this time. He had intended for his earlier remark to be in the spirit of their lighthearted banter, but he suddenly realized the extra potential behind it. Had she just been joking also? He couldn't really tell, but could think of several ways to find out. None of which were appropriate for the conference room, he reminded himself swallowing hard. He picked up his pen and wrote a quick response.

**'Tease'**

After that the dialog on the notepad was temporarily forgotten, but unbeknownst to either agent.....the game was far from over.


	2. Tease?

Vaughn watched as Sydney read his message and then settled back into her chair with a satisfied look on her face. He suddenly realized that she thought she'd won. She was acting pretty smug about it too. That certainly wouldn't do.

Sydney was turning her attention back to what her father was saying when she felt Vaughn lightly shift in his chair again. Just as she was starting to wonder what he was up to, she felt him reach over to her armrest and cover her hand with his. This was turning into Jr. High, first note passing and then holding hands underneath the table? Sydney laughed inwardly.  
Once he felt her relax he began softly stroking the top of her hand with his thumb. She tensed a little but kept her eyes trained on the front of the room; he did the same. As far as anyone could tell they were both completely focused on what Jack was saying. Without breaking his concentration Vaughn ran his fingers from the tips of her nails to her wrist in feather light touches. Sydney tensed more, her attention completely gone from her father again.  
He ran the pad of his thumb over her hand some more, paying special attention each of her knuckles. She felt more and more aware of her hand with every touch. It was almost as if every nerve ending had moved to the surface of her skin. He turned her hand over and let his thumb rest in the juncture where her hand and thumb connected. She bit back a moan when he ran it across her palm.  
'Jesus Christ, all he's touched is my hand' she realized, which lead her wonder what he might do to the rest of her, which lead her to remember that she already knew. 'That's not helping!' she thought. She slipped her hand out of his and rested it on her thigh. He followed and continued to draw lazy patterns over her palm with his index finger. She focused on controlling her breathing.  
As he starting going in circles over the pulse on her wrist, the other part of his hand brushed against her thigh. The touch felt mild and almost imperceptible. She was glad she had worn pants that day.  
Vaughn however noticed the light brush against her thigh more than Sydney had. He let his finger slide over her wrist and he began stroking her wool covered leg in the same manner he had her hand. Suddenly, she didn't feel quite as glad to be wearing pants anymore. The sensation was still dulled by fabric between her skin and his hand, but instead of providing some relief it made the touches all the more frustrating.   
He drew more circles for a moment before turning his hand to move it over and upward. He moved at an agonizingly slow pace, his fingers leaving burning trails as he went. Her body realized where exactly he was going before her brain had an chance to fully process it. She bit her lip again as his hand slowly moved higher, higher, higher...............  
"Agent Vaughn," her father's voice interrupted their activity. Both Syd and Vaughn froze.


	3. Revenge of the Visual Sort

"Agent Vaughn," her father's voice interrupted their activity. Both Syd and Vaughn froze.

"Will you give your report on the investigation I assigned you to?" Jack continued without missing a beat.  
"Certainly," Vaughn muttered, he removed his hand from her thigh, picked up a folder, and made his way to the front of the room.  
'Son of a bitch!' Sydney yelled inside her head, for lack of a better way to relieve the tension. She felt heat rising in her cheeks and struggled to control her body's response. Once she felt she had herself under control again she looked up at Vaughn, taking the spot at the front of the table as Jack took a seat next to Kendall. Vaughn opened the file in his hands and began giving his report. Sydney grimaced at how nonchalant he was acting, while she was still feeling the effects of their little covert games big time. 'He is so going to pay for that!' she said to herself.  
She glanced around the room, then realized that she was sitting at very opposite end of the table from where he was standing. No one was close to her other than the empty chair Vaughn had left, and every set of eyes was turned away from her. He was looking right at her, but everyone else was looking at him. She smiled evilly to herself.

Vaughn read mechanically from his report about the unauthorized access to the computer systems, glancing up from his papers occasionally. Each time he glanced up the first thing he immediately saw was Sydney; as her seat was exactly across from where he was standing. After about the third or fourth time looking up, he noticed that her expression had changed. He realized that she was intentionally trying to distract him as payback, but her many years as a field agent had earned her the best come hither look on the planet. It made his heart speed up even though he was prepared for it. She kept her expression the same as she moved her gaze up and down. He could practically feel her eyes all over him, scrutinizing him. His mouth suddenly went dry. Some force in the back of his mind told him to keep talking, so he did.   
When he looked up again she was no longer staring strait at him. By now she was sitting back in the chair twirling a pen in her hand with a look of exaggerated boredom. Somehow the bored expression made her look all the more adorable. He continued to discuss the investigation, but forbidden thoughts crept into his mind. Thoughts about their earlier innuendo, thoughts about how soft her thigh had been underneath his hand, and how strongly she had reacted to such a simple touch.   
Eventually she leaned forward as if to look over the papers in front of her. As she looked over them she pressed the end of her pen against her lips, deeply in thought. His eyes zeroed in on the spot where the pen met her lips. She wasn't wearing much lipstick, she never did except on missions, but they were pink and full. Almost begging to be kissed. An image came into his mind of Sydney, her lips swollen and thoroughly kissed, and desire in her eyes. He swore to himself. This debriefing was going to have to end soon or something shocking was going to happen right in front the whole conference room!  
Suddenly he realized that he was no longer talking. Everyone was looking toward him but no one said anything. He stood for what might have been ten minutes or just a couple of seconds, wondering if perhaps he had just stopped in the middle of his report, or if his training had failed him and he'd blurted something related to the **other** thing on his mind.  
"Thank you Agent Vaughn," Jack said standing back up.   
"I think we're done for tonight," he briskly ending the meeting and stepped past Vaughn uninterestedly. Guess he didn't notice. At the end of the table Sydney hurriedly packed her stuff into her briefcase and headed toward the door. Vaughn went back to his seat to gather up his own stuff. When he got back to his spot he found the notepad from earlier sitting on the table top. The previous page had been removed and a clean one was showing with one word across the middle.

**'Truce?'**

He glanced back toward the door, Sydney stood there in the crowd of agents trying to hurry and leave the conference room while still seeming polite. She looked back at him with a non-malicious smile. He smiled back and gave her a slight nod. From there they didn't communicate any further, they simply headed out the door toward the parking garage. Both were eager to get home because though the game might have been over...........the real fun was just beginning.

THE END


End file.
